Minutes of SEVAS meeting Feb 17, 2010

President Don Picard opened the meeting by welcoming a few returning friends and members.

Treasurer’s report, submitted by e-mail, indicated no activity in the past month, leaving current balance at $3496.92

FIELD TRIPS:

Our next field trip will be Sat, Feb 20, meeting at 7 AM to drive to
Orlando Wetlands Park. We will be given a guided tour of the park
by open buggy, and then will walk the dikes. It was mentioned
that purple gallinule have been seen in good numbers there recently!

We are open to suggestions for our March 20 field trip. Due to
remodeling of the area, Tosahatchee is no longer a suitable area for
our group to visit. Please contact Gail if you have any
suggestions.

RESTORATION:

The project will now proceed as altered according to the guidelines
delineated in the Prez Sez column in The Skimmer, February 2010
issue. SEVAS has therefore withdrawn its objections to the
project. Despite any individual misgivings members have, the items that
our organization objected to have all been addressed by the proposed
changes.

FARMTON:

On Feb 16, Charles Lee met with representatives of the 3 Volusia
county chapters in hopes of getting us all in line with the Florida
state chapter’s position. Mr. Lee has been invited to provide us with a
detailed explanation of his position for our SEVAS website.

Audubon of Florida hopes that large parts of the proposed
development areas will NOT be developed, leaving a wider wildlife
corridor. Audubon of Florida hopes all of this land will be
deeded to an entity made up of several organizations, such as Audubon
of Florida, Forever Florida, and the like to be a caretaker of the
environmental corridor created. Halifax Audubon is staying silent on
the matter; West Volusia is supporting Audubon of Florida’s position.

It was moved (by Ken Gunn) and seconded (by Fern
Murphy) that SEVAS will continue to oppose Farmton. The motion
carried by an overwhelming majority.

Don Picard has sent an e-mail to all Volusia
County Council members informing them of SEVAS’ opposition to the
Farmton project.

Ken Gunn introduced our speaker for the evening, Dr. Michael Reiter,
Associate Professor of Environmental Science at Bethune-Cookman
University. His presentation was entitled Global Climate Change:
What Can We Do About It? Or, How Big a Hole Do I Need to Jump
Into? There is a very good explanation of the presentation in the
February 2010 issue of The Skimmer.

After thanking Dr. Reiter for his excellent presentation, and there being no other business, the meeting was adjourned at @9 PM.